Adequate Security Training is Vital in the Defence Against Terrorism at Sports Events
With their magnificent arenas and stadiums, competitive sportspeople and an atmospheric crowd of spectators it’s easy to see why working at sports events holds huge appeal for several young people considering their careers. Being in the thick of it, ensuring everything runs smoothly and that everyone is safe is the job of many security personnel and stewards across the world. But they are now finding that their jobs have taken on a new significance as sport continues to face an evolving threat.
The recent bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund football team bus has once again placed the threat of terrorism that the sporting industry faces back in the headlines. But this threat to sport isn’t a recent development. We can go as far back as the 1972 Munich Olympic games for an example of terrorism encroaching the sports sector; when the Israeli national team was taken hostage and eventually slaughtered by the Palestinian militant group Black September. Later in 1997, there were amazingly calm scenes as 60,000 spectators, jockeys and race staff were all evacuated after two bomb threats were received from the IRA. And more recently in 2008, the New Year marathon in Sri Lanka ended in tragedy as twelve people were killed and many more injured when a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber set off a device. These are just a handful, there are sadly, so many more instances when sporting events have suffered terrorist attacks aimed at high profile sporting events with high spectator numbers. So many in fact, that we can now read articles collating the worst of these attacks and the devastation they cause.
Unfortunately each attack not only throws the terrorist cause into the spotlight, but also the security at sporting events and this can often be in a negative way. There are often calls for investigations into security procedures as people look for an explanation as to how these events could happen. As people logically demand that security at sports events improves to reduce the chances of it happening again, this sometimes leads to security personnel becoming the targets for criticism for somehow enabling it to happen. It’s refreshing then to hear a more positive reaction from the president of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Graet who praised the ‘solid’ security at the Stade de France when it was the target of suicide bombers in November 2015. The France v Germany match brought 79,000 spectators to the stadium yet what could have been a huge tragedy, was averted. As reported in the Daily Mail; the Football Federation president said that security operated well, ” ‘Dramatic things happened outside the stadium but inside, the police, stewards and spectators were exemplary,’ he told French sports daily L’Equipe. ‘No crush, no panic. There could have been a veritable catastrophe. That wasn’t the case.’ “
Guidance Set in Place to Prevent Further Successful Attacks.
While some terrorist attacks are prevented in time, others are more successful and the fact that the terrorism threat to sport has been around for so long sadly means that sporting events now have to expect the worst and be prepared. Reporting on the attack on the Borussia Dortmund football team bus earlier this month, The Guardian, highlighted how “Major football matches, high-profile sporting events and, to use the current language of security training, all “crowded places” have been recognised as potentially serious terrorism targets for more than a decade in the UK, particularly since the 7 July 2005 London transport suicide bombings.” It goes on to explain how, following the July 7th attack, the UK’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office issued security advice for sporting grounds in the hopes of setting out risk assessment practices to be followed to protect against a range of attacks. This guidance is what all sporting organisations follow for each event and with the appearance of several different types of attacks, it needs to be reviewed regularly. But general guidance alone is not enough and as the article points out, Nactso recognises this and “…has run regular training programmes on counter-terrorism at sports events and crowded places, Project Argus and Project Griffin, regularly since 2004 and in May last year ran a briefing at Wembley stadium for football officials from the UK, Europe and UEFA.”
Yet whilst it is absolutely essential that sporting grounds and sport officials are given guidance on how they can prepare themselves for the threat of a terrorist attack, it is equally as vital if not more so that this guidance is translated into adequate training for those responsible for carrying out the risk assessments, those who spectators look to keep them safe at the events, the security personnel. The very fact that these terrorist attacks have been happening for decades, naturally means that we have seen the types of attacks evolve and our security measures desperately need to evolve with them.
Current Security Training is Falling Short… and so are its Funds.
Without the right knowledge and skills, the effectiveness of the security personnel on the ground is limited. Security personnel can only provide the level of service they are trained to provide and if this training is inadequate, the level of security will consequently be lacking too. In light of recent attacks, security is naturally stepped up in every country after each attack and spectators look to the security personnel for reassurance. A secret film of a steward at a football match who was performing what the Daily Mirror describes as “only the most token of efforts to search fans prior to their entry into White Hart Lane” was posted on Twitter and made the newspapers.The act of secretly filming and sharing the film itself, shows that sport has now inherited a sense of insecurity and vulnerability which in turn heightens the expectation from the security personnel at sporting events.
At a time when security needs to be heightened in response to the growing threat of terrorist attacks to sporting events, to find that government funding for the security entry training is being cut and calls are being made for the cost of policing to be covered by the sporting clubs themselves, seems illogical. In February this year, The Telegraph reported how London was calling for a change to the law; “The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden, said: “It is essential that all of London’s football matches are kept safe, but we are clear that more of the cost of policing should be met by the clubs. We are raising this issue with the Home Office to see whether the cost to the public purse can be reduced and we welcome the London Assembly’s support of our representations.” Calling for clubs to cover their own policing of matches could not only result in varying standards of security as the responsibility of the security of spectators is placed on individual clubs, but also take away the money the club might otherwise spend on investing in its security staff.
Sporting Organisations Have Good Options to Help Them Invest in Security Training
Funding cuts can lead to skills gaps and in positions as essential to the public safety as security personnel, these skills gaps can result in tragic consequences. Unfortunately, far too often, when funding is available, it seems that security personnel are the last to receive it as they are not seen as ‘profit making’. Sporting organisations and training providers have a responsibility to turn this perception around and show the value of investing in adequate training for security personnel. Each and every sporting event needs to be staffed with fully trained, knowledgeable and highly-skilled security personnel – the best asset again terrorist attacks. They want to be able to do their job and do it well and equipping them with the knowledge and understanding of what is required if them will enable that to happen.
Those staff on the ground, amongst the spectators in sporting events, need to receive more than just the basic entry level training (Spectator Safety Level 2). They need to understand more about security risks, and safeguarding for example. There are several training courses available beyond Spectator Safety L2 and it is crucial that employers invest in their employees by sending them on these courses. Please feel free to speak to NGTC Group for more information on these courses and their value.
Investing in training courses needn’t put sports employees out of pocket. They have the option to take advantage of the apprenticeship levy which was introduced across the UK at the start of this month. This levy encourages employers to employ apprentices and supply training by enabling them to claim the cost back in the form of an e-voucher to use to provide training through a recognised training provider.
Similarly, sporting organisations could take advantage of the opportunity to become involved with the new Trailblazer standards. Put simply, a Trailblazer is a group of employers who get together to develop apprenticeship standards directly relevant to job roles in their sector. Other sectors are doing exactly this, in engineering, manufacturing, retail and many many others, employers are in effect, putting themselves in control by influencing the content, qualifications and training standards that comprise a new apprenticeship standard. This is our opportunity to design a fit for purpose apprenticeship standard that reflects the modern challenges within the spectator safety and security industries. It is imperative that we, as a voice for our sector demonstrate the value of high quality training with modern, world-class training standard. Ensuring effective and efficient use of public funds as well as ensuring that levy paying employers within our sector feel that they are getting best value for their levy contributions. NGTC Group are keen to pull together an employer design group, putting you, the sporting organisations in control of creating the standards of apprenticeships that employees in the sporting security sector will undertake. By coming together to create a Trailblazer, organisations can tailor the apprenticeship standards specifically to the role of a security steward for example. Setting up a Trailblazer group is a proactive way of ensuring that the skills gap in the security sector of sporting events is closed and that your staff are provided with a comprehensive set of skills and thorough knowledge, gained in meeting the industry-wide apprenticeship standards you’ll have helped to set. With a strong pre-exisitng client base of well-known sporting organisations, NGTC Group can help you set up a Trailblazer group. In fact we feel so strongly that this is a positive approach that we are actively seeking sporting employers who would like to take part, so please do get in contact for more information and to see if it would be right for you – training@ngtc.co.uk
By investing in adequate training, you can not only help ensure we can maintain both the safety and enjoyment of sporting events but you will benefit from from fully-trained security personnel, for which the demand will only (sadly) increase.